Title: Small Comforts
Author: Jewel Song
Word Count: 209
Challenge #38: Domestic Chores


When she still lived in the South Pole, Katara used to do many chores in the hut she lived in. Since Gran-Gran wasn't getting any younger and her mother was gone, Katara took it upon herself to be the woman of the house.

She gutted and cooked the fish and eels that Sokka caught.
She dusted and picked up around the hut whenever it became messy.
She did all the dirty laundry that Sokka constantly managed to bring in.
She took care of the children in the village when their mothers were busy.

Katara did all of these things, on top of taking care of Gran-Gran when the poor woman was in pain from her aging body.

These chores, while boring and meaningless to others, gave Katara small comforts. They gave her something to do and a way to be useful to her family, while they also gave her a way to be close to her mother; as if by somehow doing the things her mother used to do, it would keep the kind, dutiful, woman she remembered fresh in her mind forever.

Now, Zuko tells her the maids will take care of it. The wife of the Fire Lord has no need to do such inane tasks.


: "It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn't match what you dreamed it would be."- Randy K. Milholland :